Deadly earthquake strikes Mexico's southern coast

Monday, July 7, 2014, 12:30 PM - At least three people were killed as a magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck Monday morning in southern Mexico's Chiapas state near the border with Guatemala, authorities in Chiapas said.

The quake happened at 6:23 am (7:23 am ET), a few kilometres from Puerto Madero, Mexico, which is on the country's Pacific coast.

Strong shaking was felt in southern Chiapas state and western Guatemala, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

In the Chiapas town of Huixtla, about 48 km to the north of the epicenter, a person died after a wall fell on him, Chiapas' state civil protection system said on Twitter on Monday.

The quake damaged part of an airport in Tapachula, a Mexican city of about 300,000 people near the Guatemala border. Lights hung precariously by wires, and debris littered a floor, pictures that the city government posted to Twitter show.

The epicenter was about 204 km west of Guatemala's capital, Guatemala City.